It measures commitment to sustainability and allows ESG strategies to be made more organic
Accredia publishes its first Sustainability Reporta tool that measures the commitment and transparency of theSingle national accreditation body towards stakeholders and allows, thanks to specific indicators, to make ESG strategies more organic.
The document, in line with the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive – CSRD (EU Directive 2022/2464) which puts sustainability information on the same level as financial information, is placed in a context of growing sensitivity of companies and institutions towards Environment issues , Social, Governance with the awareness that Accreditation and accredited conformity assessments are an established and recognized tool for building trust, promoting innovation and improving sustainability performance.
ESG strategies
In 2017 Accredia revised the principles and requirements of its Code of Ethics and Conduct, aimed at all employees, collaborators and members of corporate bodies, introducing environmental, social and corporate issues. The purpose of the sustainability report is also intended to be a more organic rendering of the ESG strategies already in place, giving them greater prominence with a view to the international objectives of the UN 2030 Agenda.
Measure and communicate
The analysis of Accredia’s activities on the dimensions of ESG sustainability, conceived as a perimeter of dimensions through which to read the interrelationships between what and how it is produced and how much and how it is consumed, led to the selection of a list of indicators referring to Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), integrated with specific, static and periodic indicators, while the European measures represented the guidelines for the development and articulation of the contents.
Gender equality
The sustainability report also acts as a valid tool to highlight the adoption of policies regarding equal opportunities between men and women in the workplace, supporting compliance with the provisions of the Equal Opportunities Code.
Reporting process
The drafting of the sustainability report was inspired by the evaluation of the implications of Accredia’s activities in terms of sustainable development as defined in the ST-00 Statute:
- With the approval of the Management and the Steering and Guarantee Committee, the internal resources were identified in order to start the work with the strategic vision of preparing a tool which over the years can account in greater detail of the contribution that Accredia’s activities can provide in terms of sustainable development to society.
- An in-depth analysis of the documentation available at the Governance level was carried out, such as the minutes of the Committee for Accreditation Activities, the Annual Reports and the Accredia Program Document, expression of the Association Bodies and the Organization’s Departments .
- In order to guarantee greater transparency in the reporting process, in line with the GRI requirements, all aspects were assessed which, as recorded in the documentation consulted, represent the indications that the representatives of the interested parties, including the Ministry of Business and of Made in Italy, the other member public administrations, the universities, the standardization bodies, the accredited subjects, the companies, the employees, and the citizens, expressed their opinion on the Accredia tables.
- The identified aspects have been grouped into eight homogeneous areas to which the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been associated, with respect to which, according to internal reflection, they can contribute most to improvement.
In detail, the indicators touch on aspects such as the digitalisation of the accreditation process, the responsible growth towards sustainable developmentthrough the accreditation of conformity assessment bodies, the enhancement of accreditation and its use in new areas and with new conventions, agreements and memoranda of understanding with the PA, international activities and the management of internal processes.
The sustainability report aims to make “the commitment of the single national accreditation body to the service of the community shared, declining and measuring it according to the main values of sustainable development”, thus the president of Accredia, Massimo De Felice. The ultimate aim of the document is to allow us to monitor the coherence between what is planned and what is operationally implemented over time.
Source-www.adnkronos.com